Just a Normal Day

The irony of last week was that I thought that the most stressed out I'd be was on Tuesday when I got called in for jury duty. Clearly that was a walk in the park compared to Thursday when I found myself pushing Hadley in the stroller at 7 in the morning to the ER to see Harper. But most everyone knows that she is OK and now we are trying to get back to normal.

Friday morning the girls woke up and hung out in each other's cribs for a bit before breakfast.

A little blurry, but you can see how happy she is. Twenty-four hours ago that was not the case.

And here's my big girl hanging out in Harper's crib. Yes, she is three and still uses a pacifier. Anyone who passes judgment, please feel free to come over and explain to her why she can't use one but her sister can. Hadley sleeps with her pacifier, I shove bookshelves in front of our door the nights Jesse is travelling for work. We all have our issues.

Friday we needed to take Harper in to the doctor for a "24 hour check-up" just to make sure she was doing OK. Here are a few pictures of the girls playing in the waiting room and the examining room:


The below picture is what I deal with all day. One girl has something, and the other girl wants it. And it used to be that Hadley took the wanted object away from Harper and Harper would cry. Now Harper can pretty much hold her own against Hadley so both of them just take turns ripping things out of the other's hands and then screaming. It's so fun.

Harper checked out just fine, so afterwords we went to the bagel shop to celebrate. I realize pictures of that would be more interesting then the doctor's office, but I left the camera in the car.

It has been a rough fall, I won't lie. But even at the height of the insanity, I've noticed a lot of good things that are happening as well. Harper is becoming much more comfortable with other people. Jesse and I went out for the afternoon/early evening on Saturday and left the girls with the babysitter and Harper didn't cry once. We called twice and both times we could hear her in the background playing and talking. She's also putting herself to sleep much better then she was a few months ago. Sometimes she plays for a long time in the crib, but she she ends up falling asleep which is really nice. And Hadley says the funniest things it is almost impossible for me to respond without laughing. This morning we were in the car listening to a Dora CD and I was singing along to it until Hadley said, "Mama, only one person should really be singing along, and I can't hear myself sing when you're singing." Well. Someday I'll tell her I sang at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. That'll show her.

This morning Hadley and I made Christmas cookies. Here are a couple pictures and a video:

Nothing wrong with a few sprinkles:

The finished product: